Assemblable support for articles



March 28, 1939. H FF N 2,152,192

ASSEMBLABLE SUPPORT FOR ARTICLES Filed Dec. 4, 1937 HM: INVENTOR BY J M W W ATTORN EY Patented Mar. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,152,192 ASSEMBLABLE SUPPORT FOR ARTICLES Herbert Hofi-man, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application December 4, 1937, Serial No. 178,012

1 Claim.

This invention relates to devices or racks used. for supporting or displaying articles such as shoes, and has for its chief object to provide a support or rack capable of being assembled into the condition of use by the user himself without employing any tools, and thereby render shipping of said device easy and convenient and reduce its cost and hazard of damage.

Another object is to provide a shoe rack which will effectively support varieties of shoes in an easily and readily discernible manner and will greatly facilitate the storing and removal thereof.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in the novel combination, arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter more fully described and shown and defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing which constitutes part of this specification and in which. different reference characters denote corresponding parts- Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of my device shown in assembled condition;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section of a part of the device showing one of the cross rods or pins and the means for securing it in position in the side plates or standards of my device;

Figure 3 is a side view of a modified construction of my device;

Figure 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4 of Figure 3 seen in the direction of the arrows therein;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the cross rods or pins used with said modified construction;

Figure 6 is a similar view to that of Figure 1 with modified means for securing the cross rods or -pins in position in the side plates or standards of my device; and

Figure 7 is a perspective view of one of the cross rods or pins used in the modification shown in Figure 6 and of the means for securing saidpins in position in the standards of said device.

Referring to the drawing more indetail ID, ID denote two substantially rectangular boards or plates of any suitable rigid material, such as wood or metal, serving as standards, and II denote cross rods or pins adapted to engage said side boards or plates. The boards or plates are each provided with two vertical parallel rows of openings l2, I3 (Figure 1) for the engagement of the ends of said cross rods or pins I I. The openings I2 of one row are vertically displaced relative to the openings I3 of the second row, so that when assembling the parts and the pins are passed with their ends into the openings I2, I3 of the two side plates I 0, I0, they will extend in a staggered formation relative to one another. With such arrangement each cross pin of one row and a corresponding cross pin of the second row constitute a. pair of supports for a plurality of shoes, the upper cross pin of each such pair of supports serving to catch the front face of the heel of a shoe and the lower one to bear against the lower face of the sole thereof.

In the drawing 6 pairs of such supports I2, I3 are shown, for the support of a plurality of pairs of mens, womens and childrens shoes, which may be. conveniently hung in a downwardly slanting position to be easily discernible and picked out. Said pins while effectively holding the shoes in position permit easy and ready storing and removal thereof.

As stated at the outset, the device is adapted to be manufactured and sold in a disassembled condition, leaving it to the user himself to assemble the parts, whereby shipping is considerably simplified and cheapened and waste through damage reduced. To secure the rods or pins in position in the openings of the boards or plates various suitable means may be used, preferably headed thumb tacks I4, if the rods are made of wood, and

which can be forced into the ends of the pins or any cross section, such as circular, as shown, when using cylindrical pins I I or pins having cylindrical ends.

In the construction shown in Figures 3 and 4 the openings in the plates Ill are in form of slits I2, I3 slanting downwardly from one of the side edges of each plate and terminating at their inner closed ends in horizontally extending parts I2, I3 In Width these slits are smaller than the thickness of the rods or pins I I. Near their ends said pins II are cut away as at II (Figure 5) to fit in said slits and to form shoulders or abutments I I (Figure 4) which will bear against the outer faces of said plates and thus securely hold the parts in assembled condition.

This construction facilitates the assemblage of the parts, in that the pins can be easily slid in into locking position through the slits, and require no separate locking means.

In the construction shown 1n Figures 6 and 7 the plates or boards are provided with similar holes I2, l3 to those shown in Figure 1 and the projecting ends of the pins II which may be of the same width as that of said openings are pro- Since various other modifications may be made in the construction without departing from the principle of my invention I do not wish to restrict myself to the details described and shown.

What I claim is:

In a collapsible and assemblable supporting device a pair of side members serving as standards and formed with sets of openings displaced vertically relative to one another, cross members capable of engaging said sets of openings and adapted to extend in staggered formation, each cross member of one set and a corresponding cross member of another set together serving to support a plurality of articles in a downwardly slanting position, at least two of said cross members have slits near their ends and catches provided on each side plate to engage said slits of said cross members and to secure the parts in assembled position.

HERBERT E. HOFFMAN. 

